CA reports 32% increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations over 14 days, Gov. Newsom says
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that California reported a 32% increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the past two weeks.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that California reported a 32% increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the past two weeks.
The startling surge also marked a 29% increase from Wednesday, with 4,240 coronavirus patients hospitalized in the state. Of those, 8% of the state's hospital capacity is in use.
The state also recorded a 19% increase in ICU admissions over the past 14 days - up from 18% reported Wednesday. Newsom said 34% of the ICU beds in California are currently filled.
The governor also unveiled an ambitious coronavirus forecasting model for the state of California during a press conference Thursday.
Multiple dashboards were launched on a new state website. Newsom referred to the project as "a model of models."
Citizen scientists are being invited through an open source platform that houses all of the data, allowing users to find better ways to model and create better ways of building models.
The data will be the exact same information given to county health departments to build models. Researchers, experts in AI, coders, citizens and doctors are being urged to use the resource hub and determine areas of improvement.
Newsom declared a budget emergency Thursday morning that will allow California to take billions from a reserve account to help plug a large deficit brought on by the coronavirus. The budget proposes taking roughly $8 billion from the state's "rainy day" fund in the budget year that starts July 1. That's about half of what's in the fund. Newsom needed to declare an emergency to allow him to legally tap that money. The state Senate is set to vote on the budget later Thursday, and the Assembly will vote the following day.
On Wednesday, the governor shared the number of new COVID-19 cases in California: from 4,230 on Sunday, to 5,019 on Monday and 7,149 on Tuesday. That's a 69% increase in new cases in just two days.
"We've seen a lot of those numbers are reflected in increases in the Bay Area," Newsom said. "That's part of the state that's moved last into this new phase. They have moved more slowly and now have experienced an increase in the last number of days. It's Alameda, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo." Los Angeles, Kings, Imperial, Riverside and San Bernardino counties also remain areas of concern, he said.
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Even more serious is the trend when it comes to hospitalizations. The number of patients hospitalized with the virus has gone up 29% in just two weeks, from 3,177 to 4,095.
ICU hospitalizations are also on the rise: 18% in 14 days.
The governor admonished Californians for breaking from social distancing guidelines. He recently also said that he's prepared to "revert back" to stringent stay-at-home orders if necessary.
"I understand that we're all human," he said. "I deeply recognize that I have four children, and we are now moving past distance learning into the summer months. There's a deep desire for our children to have playdates ... to go back to some well semblance of normalcy, or you haven't seen your cousins, your aunts, your uncles, someone's birthday may come up and you may invite them over. Now all of a sudden you're mixing not in the same family or household.
"What's the point of bringing everyone together, if you can't honestly look them in the eye and say, 'I love you so much that I'm looking out for you?'"
